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24-11-2013 20:05:35  #1


Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

I was in an antique shop today and came across a machine with very weird keys. The appeared to have little springs in them, I assume as shock absorbers to reduce the wear and tear on someone's finger tips. I'd never seen these before. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. And the woman in the place, despite the fact that it was a store, didn't want to sell it the typewriter. Just teasing people I guess. Have you ever seen keys like this?

 

25-11-2013 02:25:00  #2


Re: Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

Probably an Olympia SM4 (or 3?) which had a pivot and spring under each key, not as a shock-absorber, but to keep the keystroke vertical in its travel.


Sincerely,
beak.
 
 

25-11-2013 09:10:25  #3


Re: Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

This was an Underwood. The whole key mechanism was pretty standard, except for the keys themselves, meaning the actual circular things on top with the letters on them. These were made of two pieces, the upper one fitting snugly into the lower one, and there appeared to be a spring between the two pieces, so when you pressed the key the two pieces were compressed together as you push down.

     Thread Starter
 

25-11-2013 10:49:37  #4


Re: Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

Well, which Underwood, please?

 

01-12-2013 10:23:48  #5


Re: Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

I have seen typers with keys that provided a cushion effect and if I recall correctly it was an option that was available at the time - so could have been used on a few models. They are pretty rare, but I have seen the odd machine with such keys pop up for sale now and again.

I'll have to take a closer look at the spring-loaded keys on my Olympia SM3 again. I had always assumed that they were designed to ease typing, which would seem a more important (or useful) feature than aligning a keystroke. One of the reasons that I had reached this conclusion is that they seemed so similar to those optional key tops used by Underwood.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

06-12-2013 10:55:29  #6


Re: Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

I finally found some time to have a closer look at the keys on my 1954 Olympia SM3. No matter how I manipulated them, I couldn't get them to pivot in any way, so I'm not sure about what beak had in mind with his description of their function.

What I did find was that the key would compress at the end of the typing stroke up to 1.5 mm from its rest position. The compression action was in line with its rest axis; in other words the key didn't swivel in any way. 

I can't see any other purpose for this feature except to provide a cushioned typing action. Does it work? Well, the SM3 is on my top five list of preferred typers to use for writing, and I'm sure the keys have something to do with it. Needless to say, Olympia dropped the "shock absorbers" at some point as none of the newer SM models I own have this feature.It was most likely deemed to be an expendable cost, either that or Olympia improved the mechanics of the SM's type action to make the springs a redundant component.

From the top the keys look quite ordinary:




A view from the underside is an entirely different story! Here's a key in its rest position:




And a view of the key with its spring fully compressed. It's a subtle amount of spring travel, so don't feel bad if you can't see the difference:




And here's a photo that shows how much the key will move at the end of its type action:


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

06-12-2013 11:30:20  #7


Re: Have you ever seen keys with shock absorbers in them?

The idea of providing shock absorbtion for a typists fingers is a really old one and many variants of key cushioning systems were produced over the years. I don't know how many were supplied as OEM parts, but many of these cushioning systems were offered as options to typewriters owners who could retro-fit the keys on their machines with the devices.

To address Foljambe's question about what he saw in the antique shop, it's quite possible that the machine he was looking at was fitted with one of these optional key cushioning systems.

As an example, here are a couple of drawings of key cushions that were filed for U.S. patents. The first drawing shows a 1933 key cushioning system invented by Otto Kretschmer of the Peerless Key Company. It used soft rubber and five air pockets to create a softer touch for the typist.



 
An even older version of this was Wilber Belknap's 1919 Cushion Cap:


I have seen machines with similar key cushions fitted to them, so they do exist, but I suspect they are somewhat rare, either because they didn't sell in large numbers to begin with, deteriorated over the years, or were removed and thrown away.

I seem to recall having seen these optional cushions on a machine owned by Valiant (another member here). He had pointed them out to me several months ago while I was buying a machine from him, but I think his typewriter was missing a few of them. I'll have to ask him to chime in on this thread.

Here's a couple of photos from an eBay auction for key cushions. I'm not sure how these worked or what the two larger objects in the box are (installation tool perhaps?), but you can see that these were sold to fit most brands and were available to typewriter owners as an aftermarket accessory.




 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

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